*
This journal is being kept by Concordia head coach Bucky Burgau in the
attempt to help Cobber baseball fans to get a closer look at the spring
trip to Florida.

Thursday, March
4Day
Five of Baseball - Final Journal InstallmentGreat
day for the Cobbers today!!

The
day started with a talk from Dr. Tom Hanson. We drove to the University
of Tampa where we were playing Loras and he gave his talk at the school.
He started his talk at 11:00am and finished at 12:30pm. He talked to the
team about mentally preparing for the game. It was very informative and
interesting. I know it will help the players during the season and they
were very receptive to his ideas.

After
the talk, we had had our famous bologna sandwiches! It is the staple of
the baseball team, as we have them in between every game during the season.
We started taking batting practice at 2:15pm and by the time the game rolled
around you could tell that everyone was very prepared to play.

The
senior duo of Ryan Hebrink and Jeremy Hinderks led the Cobbers to a 9-4
win! Jeremy pitched a complete game and was only in serious trouble in
one inning. Jeremy has taken his pitching talent and raised it to another
level. Ryan was 4-for-4 with two home runs and a double. His first home
run, as my father-in-law says, "would have been out of any park but Yellowstone!"
It was hit as far as I have seen a home run hit in sometime. We played
well and I am looking forward to finishing off the trip tomorrow against
York.

Thursday
night on our spring trips has become a tradition for players, family and
friends. We all gather around the motel pool for good food and fellowship.
It has become a fun night where we all share a common bond - sons, grandsons
and baseball!

Gayle
Solum has been the great organizer of this event and her efforts are greatly
appreciated.

Last
but not least, I would like to thank my family for sharing this week with
me. It truly is a baseball family and the support they give me is awesome.
Any successful coach has to have a spouse who is part of the team. Penny
and I are truly a team and the support she gives me and the team is unbelievable.

I
hope you have been able to get a closer look at what goes into putting
the team on the field during a spring break. It is a lot of work and takes
a lot of preparation but after watching all the players this past week,
it is worth every minute of work. I can't wait for the rest of the season
and look forward to getting back up north and having the snow melt so we
can get back outside. Hopefully, we will be able to start the season, as
scheduled, on March 26.

Thanks
for reading the journal and hopefully we'll see everyone at the ballpark!

Wednesday,
March 3Day
Four of BaseballThere
is an old saying in baseball that goes, "splitting a doubleheader is like
kissing your sister." Well, we kissed our sister today. We actually
got two pretty good pitching performances from two freshman. In the first
game against Loras, Tieg Herman had the Cobbers in contention in the 5th
inning and then the wheels fell off. If we would of had a normal bullpen,
I think we would have hung in there a lot closer. However, we had to leave
Tieg into pitch, and I said "the wheels came off - all four of them. Loras
put an unlikely 12 spot on the board in the 5th and the Cobbers lost 16-1.

In
the second game, we got a much-needed complete game from Zach Johnson.
We ended up jumping on top early and hung on for an 8-4 victory. We took
an 8-1 lead into the 7th, but started to get a little tired and had to
hold down the fort to get the win. Zach pitched really well until the final
inning when he started to lose some arm strength. He persevered and picked
up his first collegiate win. Luther Kangas and Chris Klabo continue to
lead the Cobber hitters on this trip. Defensively Klabo and Chad Worthington
have made a good number of nice catches. It is always nice to see the outfielders
getting a good read on the ball in the early part of the season. Since
that is the one area of the game you can't duplicate inside, it is tough
for the players to get used to the sun and picking the ball up in the sky
once we get outside.

We
have survived the toughest part of the schedule and now have a single game
on Thursday and one more on Friday. So, life should return to normal as
far as pitching goes. Ace righthander Jeremy Hinderks will start tomorrow
and Bryan Romsa will get the call on Friday against York.

On
defense we are also starting to make routine plays look routine. So, progress
has been made!!

Dr.
Tom Hanson (sports psychologist and son of Cobber alums Dr. J. Robert and
Lois Hanson) is going to give a talk to the team tomorrow. It should be
interesting to the guys and we are looking forward to it.

I
was finally able to drag Penny off the beach (her favorite spot when not
watching games) and she is helping me with the laundry. We are looking
forward to a couple of good games so we can finish the trip off on a high
note.

Hope
everyone is doing well back in Moorhead!

Tuesday, March
2Day
Three of BaseballWe
play two games today against good opponents and we're behind the eight-ball
because we are short on pitching. I only have Matt Kemp, Brian Schumacher,
Nick Esala and Ryan Hebrink available to pitch because of the need to not
overthrow the pitchers arms in the early part of the season. Most of the
schools that come to Florida are bringing 30-plus players (Wartburg brought
44), so pitching doesn't pose that much of a problem. They must have some
sort of fundraisers to have enough money for the trip. We simply cannot
afford to bring any more than 23 players. The problem comes in making the
decision to play games straight through the trip, or take a day off in
the middle of the week. I have always believed that, at this time in the
season, we need to play games. I'm always afraid to take a day off because
if we get rained out a day before our day off, or a day after the rest
day, we would be sitting with two days off. That is too much time away
from the diamond for the field players, and too much rest time when we
can get the necessary repetitions outside. So, I take the side of playing
as many games as possible even though our pitching staff gets worn a little
thin.

Game
4 vs. Rose-Hulman (IN) and Game 5 vs. Wartburg - The baseball did not go
well for the Cobbers today. We were pitching short and it hurt us. We lost
15-5 to Rose Hulman and got shutout 6-0 by Wartburg. In the first game,
Nick Esala came in the game in relief of Brian Matt Kemp earlier than we
had hoped, and pitched well until getting tired. He then had to stay in
the game and "take one for the team" because of our lack of available pitchers.

In
baseball if your team is getting beat bad, a lot of times you ask one pitcher
to stay out and pitch to save arms for the next game or day. Nick did a
great job and I, and the rest of the team, appreciated what he did.

In
game two, Brian Schumacher did well on the mound but we couldn't produce
enough run support on the offensive side. Chris Klabo got the only hit
for the Cobbers - a single in the top of the sixth. Losing is never fun
but some times you learn more about your team when you lose than when everything
goes well and you breeze to a win. Today was no exception - I am learning
more about the squad each time we take the field. The lessons learned in
the early part of the season will hopefully pay dividends in the stretch
drive when we are making a run towards the end of the season.

We
hung in there pretty well and didn't give up. That is always a great thing
for a team to have - the "never say die" attitude. All my successful teams
have pulled games out when they were behind and they just kept plugging
away. Hopefully this team will be no different. I know that there will
be times in conference games when we get behind, and we have to be able
to come back and pull victories out when everyone else thinks the game
is over.

We
have two freshman on the mound tomorrow. Tieg Herman and Zach Johnson will
make their starting pitching debuts for the Cobbers. "Mongo" (assistant
coach Steve Montgomery) and I are anxious to see how they will respond
in their first action. It's always fun to see new players come in and get
their first college action. They look good in practice and you hope that
will carry over to the game against a different opponent. We'll see what
happens tomorrow.

Weather
has been great (around 80 degrees every day), and the forecast for the
rest of the week looks good. We have a Thursday night get-together planned
with the team and all the family and friends that made the trip. Last year's
get-together was one of the highlights of the trip and we are looking forward
to another great evening.

My
wife Penny counted 80-plus Cobber fans (family and friends) at the game
today. We have, by far, the biggest following of any team down here. It
is always nice to play the games and have a group of people that cheers
and really supports the team. The players are very fortunate to have family
and friends that are willing to go that "extra mile" to support them wherever
they go.

Hopefully
tomorrow we'll have better news from the diamond!

Monday, March
1Day
Two of BaseballMy
favorite days of baseball are when you get to play one, nine-inning game.
That is what is on the table for today against Johnson and Wales. The down
side of one game a day is not everyone gets to play. However, we need to
do it a bit on the trip to spread our pitching out.

Game
3 vs. Johnson and Wales - We got into a good baseball battle today. We
ended up winning the game when Bryan Romsa pinch hit in the bottom of the
eighth inning and scored Ryan Hebrink on a suicide squeeze play. Aaron
Eckhoff pitched well from the sixth on, to get credit for his first varsity
win. Nice win for the Cobbers in a tight game. It is always good to see
the players come through in a tight game. You never know how they will
respond to pressure situations and the guys handled it very well today.
We executed the little things correctly to pick up the win - a credit to
our senior leaders and the fact that we have been in these type of situations
before in the past couple of seasons.

We
played at Jack
Russell Stadium today. The facility is one year removed as the spring
training site of the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a treat for all of us
to get the chance to play on such a nice diamond. We will play all the
rest of the games on this field except for one. On a trip like this we
need to extend our pitchers into the game more than we usually do because
of the number of games we're playing in a short time. Plus, it's a bit
more difficult this year because we don't have the services of Dormanen.
We are still searching for the player that will fill that role.

One
of the great things about coaching at Concordia is the tremendous support
you receive from parents, extended family and friends. I am always amazed
by the amount of people that follow the team wherever we go. This spring
trip is no different. There is a group of about 50 people (made up of parents,
family and friends) that made the trip south to see us play. It is fun
for the kids to play in front of a "home" crowd even though they are hundreds
of miles away from the diamond at Concordia.

Everyone
else is at the beach - including my wife Penny who made the trip - while
I sit in a coin-operated laundry place doing all the players laundry from
the first two days of games (oh, the life of a coach, wife and players
get to relax and sight see and I get to spend three hours with smelly uniforms!).

We
will play two games tomorrow, which is good as we'll split the squad up
again and play alot of players. It's important for the players to win starting
spots by on-field performance. Contrary to what players that don't get
to play alot believe, how a person plays on the field is usually the sole
indication of whether they will see alot of playing time. This helps form
the team and also helps the players know that they are in charge of who
plays and who doesn't. Most of the time coaches just take in all the information
and then play the players that are doing well at that time. Nothing more
than that - no grudges, no biases - just objective decisions about who
will give the team the best chance to be successful. That way, in the end,
everybody feels good about themselves and the role they play, and everyone
feels good about being part of a TEAM.

It's
really fun for me to watch the team grow in the early part of the season.
Three games down, six to go. We are on a two-game winning streak and the
weather is nice. Can't wait until tomorrow!

Sunday, February
29Day
One of BaseballThe
nice thing about coming to Clearwater, FL as opposed to Ft. Myers is that
we are able to get on the field and take on-field batting practice and
ground balls. Last year, in Ft. Myers, we just stepped on the field and
played. The pregame routine of ground balls, fly balls, etc. is almost
as important to us as the games (It's a bit hard on us old coaches but
definitely better for the team!).

Game
1 vs. Wartburg - Jeremy Hinderks pitched great! We just didn't score enough
runs for him. We gave up two runs in the top of the sixth and lost 3-2.
It was a good first game and, despite the loss, a good way to start the
season. We found out that we can still play the game which always nice
after having to spend a month playing simulated baseball indoors.

In
between the two games we had to drive from one field to the other and assistant
coach Steve Montgomery got us lost! It's his first year with the team and
he has done a great job with the pitching staff in the first month. We
will have a huge hole to fill with the loss of Derek Dormanen as the team's
"go to" pitcher out of the bullpen. "Mongo" has done a good job getting
the pitchers their necessary repetitions in practice and making sure their
arms are strong. Now we will have a chance to see who will step into the
different pitching roles and be the key parts of the puzzle once the MIAC
season starts.

Game
2 vs. Dubuque - We started the game as planned - only three position players
started the second game that started the first. After a rough start, Bryan
Romsa settled in on the mound and gave us six solid innings. Chris Klabo
got a big two-out double in the bottom of the sixth to drive in the game-winning
run. Ryan Hebrink set a new career home run mark with a solo blast in the
second. He was also credited with the save - his first as a Cobber! He
threw a scoreless seventh inning and struck out the last two batters he
faced. We won our first game of the year, which always a nice thing to
get out of the way early in the trip.

Saturday, February
28Departure
DayOff
from Concordia at 1:00am on Saturday morning. We arrived at the Minneapolis/St.
Paul Hubert Humphrey Airport terminal at 4:45am. As we are waiting for
our flight, things that could possibly go wrong with the trip flash through
my mind. As I go over the different reservations we made in Florida, the
first thought that races through my head is about the vans. I get a bad
feeling in my stomach as I remember that new school policy mandates no
use of 15 passenger vans for athletic travel. This also included taking
the last row out of seats in the 15 passenger van to make it a 12 passenger
van.

I
quickly call National Car Rental - to make sure that they had downgraded
out 15 passenger vans to the 12 passenger models (I had called them yesterday
to make sure that we would get 12 passenger vans). The phone call confirms
my worry. They thought that I meant that we still wanted the 15 passenger
vans with the seat removed - Uh Oh!

Another
quick call at 6:30am, this time to assistant coach Dave Klug who stayed
back in Moorhead to run the High School basketball tournaments at Concordia,
to have him work on transportation that is legal.

11:20am
- We are finally in the air. I won't know if Dave is successful or not
until we land. I always warn the players about bumps in the road when we
go on long trips but this is more like something unseen in Moorhead - a
hill! As worried as I am about that, my thoughts turn to baseball and our
lineup for tomorrow's opening game against Wartburg. On these type
of trips I feel it is important to play alot of players and we will do
that. Jeremy Hinderks will start on the mound in the opener and then Bryan
Romsa will follow in the second game of the day. I also want to see
as many players on the first day as I can, so I plan on playing only three
players, out of a possible 16 in the batting lineup in both games, in both
games. Ryan Hebrink will play shortstop in the first game and shortstop
in the second game. Nick Esala will DH in the opener and then move to shortstop
in the nightcap, and Luther Kangas will play outfield, and then catch the
second game. Even with all that change, I feel that we will have a good
team on the field for both games.

Final
thought from the air; a travel agent I am not, a baseball coach I am.

4:30pm
- We made it. We are at the hotel and the players are resting. The biggest
hurdle of the day was cleared as Dave came through with the rental vans!
It's good to have assistant coaches!

We
were planning on heading to the practice field but I will decide to give
team the day off since they are very tired from not having slept in their
beds and then traveling all day long.

Baseball
tomorrow . I can't wait, it's been a long four weeks of preparing inside
and I am more than ready to see what the team can do outside.